I've read on www.airmech.co.uk that appparently there is a motion going on within the EASA and the European aviation industry to get rid of the Licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineer.
The motion is apparently being based on the current shortage of licenced staff (due to the airline's failure of training new staff) and the therefore increasing salaries (supply and demand).
According to this thread http://www.airmech.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=5674, if the new legislation passes, in future maintenance organisations can declare a person "appropiately approved" to carry out maintenance on an aircraft and to sign for it without having undergone formal training.
So the management can declare and Tom, Dick or Harry tractor mechanic fit to do complex, safety relevant maintenance with this person having had to undergo an exam by the airworthiness authority. There will be only a few LAME's on the shift to sign off the CRS. All other tasks will be signed of by low paid, low trained "approved" staff.

Before JAR/EASA we had the "good old" aircraft inspectors (Prüfer Klasse I, II, III, IV) with a national license and mechanics/engineers qualified in different level (A,B and C) under a company approval. Only the company determined in her quality handbook (MOE - ) the requirements for these different levels.

Quoting Troubleshooter (Reply 4):Before JAR/EASA we had the "good old" aircraft inspectors (Prüfer Klasse I, II, III, IV) with a national license and mechanics/engineers qualified in different level (A,B and C) under a company approval. Only the company determined in her quality handbook (MOE - ) the requirements for these different levels.

Looks like were stepping back again...

... and if you were not an inspector with a government issued licence, if you changed your employer, you had to start right at the bottom again, since very few airlines would recognise another airline's qualifications.
I've seen very experienced mechanics, who could sign for a lit of tasks at one airline, loosing out big time when their old airline collapsed and they had to look for a new job, because they had to start again right at the bottom.
Of course, a company controlled system like this ties emploees to their company, since they can not just look for a better paying job somewhere else. If they change their job, they'll loose a lot of money.

What made me get into the Maintenance Industry was an article i read... I dont have access to it anymore but basically it was about the shortage of LAME's and how a large percentage of aircraft would be grounded in 10 years time if the number of people training for licences didnt double.

If you look back, British Airways (or BCAL) used to employ over 250 apprentices engineers. Granted not all would become certifiers, however a large number would get Section L licences.

Look back now... My Apprenticeship Scheme has 40 students... granted we're a smaller outfit than BA... but BA are not running ANY apprenticeship scheme anymore. They run a graduate program and that is it...

There are very few places to get hands on experience with aircraft. You find yourself in the catch 22 situation... you need experience to get a job, but you also need a job to get experience... Its just so difficult to become an aircraft engineer if you dont go through a modern apprenticeship. Some people make it as Maintenance Assistants and then work their way up into a technicians role.

If this does go through, it would cause absolute outrage in the industry for those people who have worked their asses off through 51 weeks of classroom instruction and sat over 14 modular exams...